1847 5c Franklin, Red Brown, Plate Proof on India Paper

US#1 Plate Proof on India Paper

Make this proof stamp a prized addition to your collection.  It was produced during the early stages of production of stamp #1.  The stamp was made on the plates to ensure that everything was in order before full-scale printing began.  The proof was printed on India paper, a thin, soft, opaque paper. 

Information about U.S. #1
1847 5¢ Benjamin Franklin, Red Brown

Value:  5¢ 1/2-Ounce Letter Rate (300 miles or less)
Issue Date:  July 1, 1847
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Type of Stamp:  Definitive
Printed by:  Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edison
Printing Method:  Flat Plate
Format:  Sheets of 200
Paper:  Thin, Bluish Wove
Perforations:  Imperforate

This is America's very first postage stamp.  It's famous throughout the world and is in great demand among collectors everywhere.
First placed on sale July 1, 1847, the 5¢ red-brown stamp was legal postage for any letter weighing up to half an ounce and being sent less than 300 miles.  It pictures a portrait of Benjamin Franklin based on a drawing by James Longacre.  Nicknamed the "Father of America's Postal Service," the scientist, inventor, and statesman earned his place on America's first postage stamp.  
The first US postage stamps were issued in large sheets without perforations.  Postal clerks simply cut the stamps away from the sheet by hand.  It's a miracle these stamps have survived over 150 years.  

Think of the caring hands that have protected this US #1 proof stamp all this time.  And now you can take your turn in preserving this scarce stamp for generations to come.